The Greek Film Festivals in Sydney and Melbourne have officially ended after almost two weeks of packed theatres.
Greek Film Festival in Sydney:
This year’s Greek Film Festival in Sydney was presented by the Greek Festival of Sydney and the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW, proudly supported by Bank of Sydney. Screenings were held at Leichhardt’s Palace Norton Street Cinema.
The festival ended on Sunday, October 29, with the screening of an unexpectedly dynamic Cypriot film IMAN. The film is directed by Korinna Avraamidou and Kyriakos Tofaridis, and successfully depicts the complexity of modern Cypriot society.
Set in Cyprus, IMAN cleverly portrayed the protagonists’ personal fights for survival within a Western-style country that is geographically so close to the turbulent Middle East.
On the closing night, the Chair of the Greek Festival of Sydney, Nia Karteris, gave a small speech and thanked everyone for making the film festival possible.
“This year has been fantastic, the numbers are high, the numbers have exceeded last year which we didn’t think they would…” Ms Karteris said.
“So thank you to the audience who support, who come year in year out, who love Greek cinema.”
The closing night comes as the Greek Film Festival in Sydney confirmed last week that additional sessions have been added to allow audiences to catch the Festival’s most popular films. The films are: George Bizos Icon on Tuesday, October 31 at 6.30pm; Behind the Haystacks on Friday, November 3 at 8.30pm; and Karagiozis the Movie on Saturday, November 4 at 10am.
Greek Film Festival in Melbourne:
This year’s Greek Film Festival in Victoria was presented by the Greek Community of Melbourne. Screenings were held at Palace Cinema Como, Palace Balwyn Cinema and the Astor Theatre.
The festival ended on Sunday, October 29, with the screening of Two Tickets to Greece. The French-language film is directed by Marc Fitoussi and runs for 110 minutes.
During the film, the audience watched as recently divorced Blandine struggled to get back to her life. Her former best friend Magalie, loud and fearless, resurfaces and imposes herself on a trip they’ve always dreamed of as teenagers: Amorgos, the amazing location where The Big Blue was shot. When they reach their destination, they realise the dreamy holidays don’t go as they had planned since they have now a very different approach to holidays… and to life.
The closing night of the Festival comes following a strong opening in Melbourne. The Festival was on track to set a new high mark with over 4,000 tickets already sold to this year’s offering. There were also additional sessions by popular demand to a number of its titles including the Opening Night feature, Behind The Haystacks, and Trip to Kythera.
